Same-sex couples rush to make vows official

Indira Archer-Marrero, center, of San Diego, and Kim Archer-Marrero, right, of Barbados, celebrate their marriage Monday morning at the Clerk-Recorder South County Branch in Laguna Hills, which was officiated by deputy commissioner Daniel Gutierrez, at left.ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

God may have approved their marriage last week, but bureaucracy and the courts didn't make it legal in Orange County until Monday morning.

Beth Syverson and Jan Mabie – a gay couple from Norwalk – were legally married by the Rev. Sarah Halverson on the Old County Courthouse steps in Santa Ana a few minutes after they had stood inside the clerk-recorder's office and filled out the paperwork every prospective couple is required to fill out when getting a marriage license.

After raising their right hands and swearing an oath that the information was true and picking up an assist from their Visa debit card that covered the $61 fee, they got the official document. Syverson, a music director for a Costa Mesa-based children's music ministry, wore white for the occasion. Wearing slacks and a polo shirt, Mabie couldn't stop smiling. She agreed that she was probably the happiest electrician in Southern California.

Giddy, excited and eschewing a same-day permit normally required to conduct a marriage ceremony on the steps, Halverson had them exchange vows just as they did on Wednesday during a religious service on the courthouse steps. At that time, a rally of several hundred witnesses saw them commit to each other.

Monday, there were two official witnesses and three other same-sex couples who got licenses who decided to stick around to watch the quick ceremony.

"There's only one thing left for me to do," Halverson said. "By the power of the God of the universe who knows and loves you and today by the state of California, I pronounce you wife and wife."

Their wedding ushered in the renewal of legal same-sex marriages in Orange County for the first time since 2008 after the Supreme Court ruled last week that the defenders of a statewide ballot measure banning same-sex marriage – Proposition 8 – didn't have the standing to defend the voter-approved statute. Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris chose not to defend the measure in court.

WAITING TOTIE THE KNOT

Within the first 90 minutes of the Santa Ana Courthouse being open, four same-sex couples lined up to wait for their chance to legally marry after anti-gay marriage legal teams appeared to run out of legal options Sunday. That was when Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy issued, without comment, a decision to not reverse a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision Friday that lifted the stay on the gay-marriage ban in California – a surprising decision given the court's usual protocol of allowing 25 days to pass before getting a final order and letting the Supreme Court decision take effect.

That opened the door to at least two same-sex couples marrying in San Francisco and Los Angeles on Friday afternoon. San Francisco held open its doors Saturday for same-sex marriages as well. By Monday morning, all 58 counties had the authority to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

But Proposition 8 defender and Chapman Law University professor John Eastman said there were some actions that still could be taken – including suing Brown and the county clerks doling out marriage licenses. "The niceties of the law matter. I think we will rue this day because we threw so many rules by the wayside."

By late morning, the clerk-recorder's office in Fullerton had married eight same-sex couples and more than a dozen licenses for same-sex couples had been issued in Laguna Hills.

Some drove to Laguna Hills from San Diego County because that county was requiring them to make appointments online.

Carla and Sandra Keehn, 52, had been waiting for the court decision and, when they found they would have to wait for a license in San Diego, came to Orange County. "We're very delighted that Orange County has been so accommodating," Sandra Keehn said. "To have the recognition from our nation's highest court ... I've been in a happy state of shock."

For one San Diego couple, Indira, 41, and Kim Archer-Marrero, 47, last week's Supreme Court actions had very significant implications. Besides finding that the Proposition 8 foes lacked standing to challenge the measure, the court invalidated the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which barred the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. Before the court acted, DOMA prevented citizens in same-sex marriages from obtaining green cards for their immigrant spouses.

Indira Archer-Marrero, center, of San Diego, and Kim Archer-Marrero, right, of Barbados, celebrate their marriage Monday morning at the Clerk-Recorder South County Branch in Laguna Hills, which was officiated by deputy commissioner Daniel Gutierrez, at left. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The Rev. Dr. Sarah Halverson, pastor of Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa, raises her hand to the heavens in joy, proclaiming Jan Mabie, left, and Beth Syverson, wife and wife. Halverson had married the Norwalk couple in front of the Old Orange County Courthhouse in a religious ceremony last week, but repeated the ceremony Monday morning after the couple was able to obtain a marriage license. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Monday morning, Rev. Dr. Sarah Halverson, pastor of Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa, center, celebrates with Jan Mabie, left, and Beth Syverson, after Halverson performed their marriage ceremony on the steps of the Old Orange County Courthouse. Halverson had performed a religious ceremony for the couple on the same spot last week but had to wait until Monday for the ceremony to be verified by a legal marriage license. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Monday morning, Rev. Dr. Sarah Halverson, pastor of Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa, left, fills out a marriage license after performing the marriage ceremony of Beth Syverson, second from left, and Jan Mabie, right. Witnesses for the ceremony, Laura Kanter, third from left, and Archer Altstaetter, look on during the historic moment. The couple was the second same sex couple to be married in Orange County Monday morning. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Pepito was decked out in a tuxedo shirt for the same-sex marriage ceremony of his owners Tracy Scofield and Mary Darbee. Unfortunately dogs aren't allowed in the Old Orange County Courthouse, Santa Ana, so Pepito had to spend some time in the car while the Costa Mesa couple got married. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Tracy Scofield, left, Mary Darbee kiss at the end of their marriage ceremony at the Old Orange County Courthouse. Monday morning, the Costa Mesa couple was the first same sex couple to be legally married in Orange County since the Supreme Court struck down Proposition 8. Darbee said, "This day means everything. It means equality." BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
After marrying her domestic partner, Britanie Garcia, second from left, embraces her mother Pamela Rodriguez. Her wife Sara Garcia, right, embraces the maid of honor Eliza Navarette. The Anaheim couple have been together since high school and promised each other that they would get married the first day it was legal in Orange County. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Tim Reid and Zhou Li, kiss outside the Old Orange County Courthouse, in Santa Ana, after obtaining their marriage license. The same sex couple came from Glendora early Monday to get a marriage license on the first day they were available in Orange County. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Monday morning, on the steps of the Old Orange County Courthouse, the Rev. Dr. Sarah Halverson, pastor of Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa, left, fills out a marriage license after performing the marriage ceremony of Beth Syverson and Jan Mabie. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Monday morning, Rev. Dr. Sarah Halverson, pastor of Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa, wipes away tears of happiness after performing the same sex marriage ceremony for Jan Mabie and Beth Syverson. Halverson had performed a religious ceremony for the couple last week but had to wait until Monday to repeat the ceremony with a legal marriage license. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The first same sex couple to get married in Orange County, since the recent Supreme Court struck down Proposition 8, wait for the doors of the Old Orange County Courthouse to open its doors Monday morning. Tracy Schofield, left and Mary Darbee, of Costa Mesa brought their dogs Pepito and Binks to witness their ceremony but the dogs were not allowed in the courthouse and had to wait in the couple's car. Pepito, left, is wearing a tuxedo shirt. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Early Monday morning, Natalie Bellman, 33, of Long Beach, does her makeup on the front steps of the Old Orange County Courthouse while waiting with her partner Heather Seeskin, right, to get married. Various rulings made it possible for same sex couples to get married in Orange County late Friday afternoon but the word got out too late and Monday morning was the first time the marriage bureau was open for business. Three same sex couples were outside the doors an hour before the marriage bureau employees arrived. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Cesar Glavey, 35, and John Sanders, 41, embrace outside the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana after obtaining their marriage license on Monday morning. The couple, who has been together over three years, had coincidentally planned a commitment ceremony this Saturday but with the change in the law, they will be having a wedding at their Anaheim home. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Tracy Scofield, left, Mary Darbee tear up and embrace just after they received their marriage license at the Old Orange County Courthouse, Santa Ana. The Costa Mesa couple then waited in the hallway for a deputy commissioner of the marriage bureau to perform their wedding ceremony. They were the first same sex couple to be married in Orange County since the Supreme Court struck down Proposition 8. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Sara and Britanie Garcia pose for a photograph in front of the Old Orange County Courthouse after their wedding. The Anaheim couple have been domestic partners for three years, having met five years ago as students at Loara High School. They had promised each other they would marry each other the first day that the process was legal in Orange County. Same sex marriage has been banned in California since 2008 when it was legal for a brief period. Sara Garcia said of her newly married status, "The world's not on my shoulders anymore. I can just live my life now." The couple plans to have a family wedding in November and honeymoon in Hawaii after that. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Four same sex couples pose for a photograph on the front steps of the Old Orange County Courthouse after getting their marriage licenses early Monday morning. They are, left to right: Cesar Glavey and John Sanders, of Anaheim; Jan Mabie and Beth Syverson of Norwalk; Tim Reid and Zhou Li of Glendora; and Tracy Scofield and Mary Darbee of Costa Mesa. Glavey and Sanders, and Reid and Li, got their licenses for future ceremonies but Scofield and Darbee, and Mabie and Syverson got married at the courthouse Monday. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
John Sanders, 41, and Cesar Glavey, 35, walk away from the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana after obtaining their marriage license on Monday morning. The couple, who has been together over three years, had coincidentally planned a commitment ceremony this Saturday but with the change in the law they will be having a wedding at their Anaheim home. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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